diff --git a/cassandra-persistence/src/main/java/com/netflix/conductor/cassandra/dao/CassandraMetadataDAO.java b/cassandra-persistence/src/main/java/com/netflix/conductor/cassandra/dao/CassandraMetadataDAO.java
index 10bbe2dd51..0187034b51 100644
--- a/cassandra-persistence/src/main/java/com/netflix/conductor/cassandra/dao/CassandraMetadataDAO.java
+++ b/cassandra-persistence/src/main/java/com/netflix/conductor/cassandra/dao/CassandraMetadataDAO.java
@@ -24,10 +24,12 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.tuple.ImmutablePair;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 import com.netflix.conductor.annotations.Trace;
+import com.netflix.conductor.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
 import com.netflix.conductor.cassandra.config.CassandraProperties;
 import com.netflix.conductor.cassandra.util.Statements;
 import com.netflix.conductor.common.metadata.tasks.TaskDef;
@@ -42,7 +44,6 @@
 import com.datastax.driver.core.Row;
 import com.datastax.driver.core.Session;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
-import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
 
 import static com.netflix.conductor.cassandra.util.Constants.TASK_DEFINITION_KEY;
 import static com.netflix.conductor.cassandra.util.Constants.TASK_DEFS_KEY;
@@ -292,8 +293,8 @@ public List<WorkflowDef> getAllWorkflowDefs() {
                             row -> {
                                 String defNameVersion =
                                         row.getString(WORKFLOW_DEF_NAME_VERSION_KEY);
-                                String[] tokens = defNameVersion.split(INDEX_DELIMITER);
-                                return getWorkflowDef(tokens[0], Integer.parseInt(tokens[1]))
+                                var nameVersion = getWorkflowNameAndVersion(defNameVersion);
+                                return getWorkflowDef(nameVersion.getLeft(), nameVersion.getRight())
                                         .orElse(null);
                             })
                     .filter(Objects::nonNull)
@@ -404,4 +405,27 @@ private String insertOrUpdateTaskDef(TaskDef taskDef) {
     String getWorkflowDefIndexValue(String name, int version) {
         return name + INDEX_DELIMITER + version;
     }
+
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    ImmutablePair<String, Integer> getWorkflowNameAndVersion(String nameVersionStr) {
+        int lastIndexOfDelimiter = nameVersionStr.lastIndexOf(INDEX_DELIMITER);
+
+        if (lastIndexOfDelimiter == -1) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException(
+                    nameVersionStr
+                            + " is not in the 'workflowName"
+                            + INDEX_DELIMITER
+                            + "version' pattern.");
+        }
+
+        String workflowName = nameVersionStr.substring(0, lastIndexOfDelimiter);
+        String versionStr = nameVersionStr.substring(lastIndexOfDelimiter + 1);
+
+        try {
+            return new ImmutablePair<>(workflowName, Integer.parseInt(versionStr));
+        } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException(
+                    versionStr + " in " + nameVersionStr + " is not a valid number.");
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/cassandra-persistence/src/test/groovy/com/netflix/conductor/cassandra/dao/CassandraMetadataDAOSpec.groovy b/cassandra-persistence/src/test/groovy/com/netflix/conductor/cassandra/dao/CassandraMetadataDAOSpec.groovy
index 5c06efe550..afca61fa7f 100644
--- a/cassandra-persistence/src/test/groovy/com/netflix/conductor/cassandra/dao/CassandraMetadataDAOSpec.groovy
+++ b/cassandra-persistence/src/test/groovy/com/netflix/conductor/cassandra/dao/CassandraMetadataDAOSpec.groovy
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ class CassandraMetadataDAOSpec extends CassandraSpec {
         defOptional.get() == workflowDef
 
         when: // modify the definition
-        workflowDef.setOwnerEmail("junit@test.com")
+        workflowDef.setOwnerEmail("test@junit.com")
         metadataDAO.updateWorkflowDef(workflowDef)
         defOptional = metadataDAO.getWorkflowDef(name, higherVersion)
 
@@ -138,4 +138,39 @@ class CassandraMetadataDAOSpec extends CassandraSpec {
         // fetch deleted task def
         metadataDAO.getTaskDef(task2Name) == null
     }
+
+    def "parse index string"() {
+        expect:
+        def pair = metadataDAO.getWorkflowNameAndVersion(nameVersionStr)
+        pair.left == workflowName
+        pair.right == version
+
+        where:
+        nameVersionStr << ['name/1', 'namespace/name/3', '/namespace/name_with_lodash/2', 'name//4', 'name-with$%/895']
+        workflowName << ['name', 'namespace/name', '/namespace/name_with_lodash', 'name/', 'name-with$%']
+        version << [1, 3, 2, 4, 895]
+    }
+
+    def "parse index string - incorrect values"() {
+        when:
+        metadataDAO.getWorkflowNameAndVersion("name_with_no_version")
+
+        then:
+        def ex = thrown(IllegalStateException.class)
+        println(ex.message)
+
+        when:
+        metadataDAO.getWorkflowNameAndVersion("name_with_no_version/")
+
+        then:
+        ex = thrown(IllegalStateException.class)
+        println(ex.message)
+
+        when:
+        metadataDAO.getWorkflowNameAndVersion("name/non_number_version")
+
+        then:
+        ex = thrown(IllegalStateException.class)
+        println(ex.message)
+    }
 }